The Cool Mom
by Wonder Woman 1982
Summary: Bella didn't exactly plan on being a mom. She was a free spirit and maybe the cool aunt, but never the cool mom. Her unexpected pregnancy changed all of that. Being bitter and headstrong makes it hard to find love, but maybe she'll be able to make room in her life. This is based off of my own life, for the most part. Rated M for reasons.
1. Chapter 1

_**It's been awhile since I've written anything. I have a lot going on in my life right now but this popped into my head and I can't exactly ignore it. I'm drawing a lot of this off of my own life with my kid.**_

 _ **If you're a fan of any of my other stories, I will definitely be trying to get some more written for them soon. Any and all mistakes are my own and I don't own any characters. Onward.**_

 _ **BPOV:**_

Being a mom at the age of 22 wasn't something I had wanted to do. I was destined to live my life and go on and do big things and make a career and go to college and well... I didn't do any of those things. I had gotten myself pregnant when I was 21 when I started to date Rebel's dad, James. He was a good enough looking guy and had a good job. My daughter was born a month before my 22nd birthday and I had thought that I was going to end up having a picture perfect life, after all.

I had gotten a job at a local bakery as a manager and James had gotten a job as a prison guard. We had purchased a modest two bedroom home from the family of an old lady who had died and we both had nice vehicles. It wasn't the lap of luxury or anything, but life was good.

My beautiful little blonde haired and blue eyed spawn wanted for nothing. Her grandparents, Angela and Ben and my parents Charlie and Renee absolutely doted all over her. She was, in a word, spoiled. Even though I didn't think I would like being a mom, it grew on me. I still cussed and had my tattoos and drank every now and then, but she came first.

One day, when Rebel was about two, an new employee of mine had came to me asking to talk to me. James had just brought my chubby baby in to see me and the employee had recognized him right away. When she told me that James had brought my baby over to her house to meet her roommate, well, my blood boiled.

I had wanted to start something in the store, but I couldn't. I wouldn't ruin my job for him. I would need it. There had been rumors before that James had cheated on me or had been seen with other women before, but like I said. He was a good-looking enough guy and he was friendly. I brushed off every comment I'd gotten about him. I looked down at my super expensive engagement ring and snorted. He had came into work and asked me to marry him in front of everyone and made a big spectacle of it. Shaking my head I went to the lobby and picked my daughter up from her chair, hugged her tight and kissed her cheeks. I knew life wasn't going to be perfect for my kid now. I wasn't staying with someone who could cheat on me. Screw that.

"Hey, babe. I'm taking Rebel to mom's. Can you pick her up from there when you're off of work?" James asks and goes to kiss my lips but I give him my cheek instead. Too bad it wasn't an ass cheek.

"Uh, yeah." I say to him, distractedly. He gives me a weird look and shakes his head.

"You okay? You're acting a little off."

Forcing a smile onto my face I lie. "Oh, yeah. I'm good. No worries. I'll be sure to pick her up in a couple of hours." With that, I kiss my daughter's cheeks and blow raspberries and make her laugh. James walks out the door with my kid and I flip him the double bird.

Lauren runs out and keeps apologizing. "I'm so sorry, Bella. I know I don't know you from Adam, but you seem like a pretty good person and I would want to know if that was happening to me." She kept rambling and I waved her off.

"No, it's okay. Thank you for saying something. I had heard he was a douche bag, but now it's been confirmed. Look, I'm going to call someone else in to run the store. I've got some things to take care of."

I called Jessica Newton, the owner's wife, and told her what was going on and she came down straight away. She was a nice enough woman, if not a gossip whore, but she didn't bat an eyelash about my predicament and let me leave.

Pulling up to my house, well, my former house, I sighed. His name was the one of the deed. But, everything in the house was mine. I packed up my clothes, Rebel's clothes, all but one towel and one wash cloth, the pots and pans and even the soap, and loaded it up into my SUV, making sure I left enough room for my daughter to fit.

I drove to get Rebel. Her piece of shit father couldn't just keep it in his pants? Looking down at my ring I felt my eyes water. My life wasn't supposed to be like this. I mean, I had pictured it would be a lot better than this. I was going to have to do everything in my power to make sure my kid didn't end up with the short end of the stick.

Explaining to Angela that I was sent home early because I was a little under the weather was pretty easy, since she knew I never left work early for anything and then I wondered how someone like James could come from people like Ben and Angela. They were some of the nicest people I had ever met and it kind of broke my heart to know that I probably wouldn't be as close with them as I am now.

The drive to my parents' house was one of me listening to some old school rock and singing to my daughter who would just clap excitedly in the back saying "Yay mama!" She thought I sounded awesome. My kid was awesome. Whatever.

When I got to my parents', my mom met me at the door with a concerned look on her face. "What's going on?" I broke down. I didn't want to, but I did.

"He cheated on me." I bawled and my mom hugged me as my dad took my kid from me.

"I'll shoot him." My dad said and Rebel held her finger up like a gun and kept making shooting noises and I rolled my eyes. Charlie was laughing at my very impressionable child and my mom shot him a disapproving glare.

"Seriously, Charlie? She's too young to be learning stuff like that." Mom lectured as she led me into the house. "Look, you can take the guest bedroom. Rebel already has her room, so there's no worries there. Did you get everything you needed or do I need to send your dad to get the rest?"

I sat down and mumbled. "I didn't catch what you said, Bells." Dad said distractedly as he played with the kid.

"I said he doesn't even know I've left yet."

"Isabella Marie!" Mom yelled. "I cannot believe you chickened out like that."

"He'll find out when he gets home and sees all of the shit gone, too." I retorted. "Look, mom, he took Rebel to some skank's house and got it on with her while my kid was asleep in some other chick's bedroom. He'd taken her over there while I was working. If it wasn't for the fact that my employee was the one whose bed she was in, I doubt I would've found out." I grabbed a beer from the fridge, because let's face it, I needed it. "I'm going to talk to him tomorrow. I'm not going back, because I don't trust him as far as I'm concerned. He's a good dad and he'll have access to Rebel, but that's about it."

The next day, I was greeted with heavy knocking on the door and a disheveled looking James. His eyes were red-rimmed like he'd been crying and he grabbed me hugging me to him while I stood stock still.

"Bella, baby! I just got off of work and everything was gone and you weren't there and I couldn't find you. I thought something bad had happened. Are you okay?" He was looking me over and I felt my eyes watering.

"James. Stop. I'm fine." I halted his hands and pushed them away from me. He had this hurt look on his face and I shook my head. "We need to talk." Right to the chase. I could do this.

"What's this about, Bells?"

We sat down and I took my ring off and handed it to him. "Look, we're done." It was short and sweet and he had the most confused look ever.

"Babe? Where is this coming from? Just the other night you were talking about trying to plan the wedding?" He asks me brokenly.

"What happened, is that new employee I have, Lauren? She recognized you and Rebel from her house. Apparently, you'd taken our daughter with you to cheat on me. She found Rebel in her bed asleep while you were in her friend's room in her bed. This isn't the first time I've heard shit about you, James. I mean, why did you even ask me to marry you if you didn't plan to be faithful?" I started shouting. I was beyond hurt now. I was pissed.

"Look, I don't know what that girl told you-"

"She told me your name and our daughter's name. She just started two days ago and I don't give out that information freely. You're busted, James. You can have Rebel on the weekends. That's when you're off."

He started to walk out the door and I stopped him. "Look, if you were ever going to be a decent human you'll be honest with me. If you've ever loved me at all, you'll be straight with me." He nods and doesn't look at me.

"How many?" His shoulders stiffen and he takes a deep breath. "How many, James? Be honest. I deserve to know."

"15. I've been with 15 girls since we've been together. Well, give or take a few."

 _ **So, that's the first chapter. It's basically just a preface of why Bella is going to be a bit guarded and all of that jazz. Fun fact: This happened to me. I found out that my daughter's dad had cheated from an employee of mine at the restaurant I worked at when he came to visit me with my kid on my lunch break. She'd told me about it after they left and I immediately went and packed up everything. Yes, including the towels and pots and pans. I left him one roll of toilet paper, though.**_

 _ **Thoughts? Leave em.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Wow! Thanks for the reviews and follows and favorites, so far! I appreciate everybody's concern and yes, it was a dick move on my daughter's dad's behalf.**_

 _ **I'm going to time jump to a more present day time. I just felt like I needed to provide a little bit of background on why Bella is the way she is and I will provide more about her relationship with James and how it coincides with Rebel's life. Also, we'll see from Alice and Rose, Bella's best friends. They're going to take on the characteristics of my two best friends. Trust me, they're a blast!**_

 _ **BPOV: (Present Day)**_

"MOM!" I hear getting yelled down the hall of my parent's house. I swear, it just fell like I fell asleep. I look at the clock and see that it says 6:30 in the morning. I DID pretty much just fall asleep. Being a terrible insomniac doesn't do much for me when your 11 year old has to go to school by 7:00 am.

The door flies open and I thank God I had the sense to not have my sort of boyfriend Jacob over last night. Rebel likes him pretty well, but there's just some things a kid doesn't need to see... or hear.

"Mom. It's already 6:30. You've gotta get up and take me to school." Rebel huffs and turns around to stomp out the door. "And I'm hungry. Nanny and Pappy said there was some stuff to make breakfast, but there isn't any time."

Ugh... Mom and dad had went to Seattle to visit his sister for the weekend and figured that they could spend all day today (Friday) and tomorrow and come back Sunday. They said I need some alone time since Rebel will be with her dad. I don't want to even know which skank he's got at his house this time around but I hope she's gone by the time he picks her up from school.

I sit up, wipe the sleep out of my eyes and light a cigarette. It's something that I regretfully picked up a a couple of years after my split with James and I'm not going to lie and say I don't enjoy it. It's one thing I can control in my life. That, and my tattoo addiction.

I look down at my wrist and see my daughter's signature from when she was 7 and smile. My tattoo guy, Ron, got every detail of her penmanship to the t. Finishing my cigarette, I throw on some pajama pants and flip flops and walk down the stairs.

Passing the hall mirror I shrug when I see my hair looks like a hot mess and decide it's going to continue to look like that until I get home to get ready for work. I see my kid sitting at the bar in the kitchen, playing on her iPhone and laughing about some text her little friend sent her. I shook my head, only imagining what the heck could be that funny between two 11 year old little girls. But then again, my kid is hilarious, so it's hard to tell.

"Ready to go?" I grab my keys and she shrieks. "What?"

"You can't take me to school looking like that." She waves her hands in my direction.

I look down. I have a t shirt and a bra and shoes. "I look fine and I definitely look better than the other moms. They all look like they're 60. Don't worry about what I look like." She rolls her eyes and stomps out to the car and I laugh.

I start up the car and put music on and play some One Direction song that I've unfortunately learned because my kid is a fan. Them and Bieber... WTF. We're nearing the school and because she was a pain in my ass this morning about what I looked like, I decided to put on a little show.

"And we danced all night to the best song ever!" I yell/sing at the top of my lungs and dance horribly on purpose as we're pulling up to the drop-off. She looks mortified. It's hilarious to me.

"Mooooooom." She drawls out and whines but I see her lips twitching.

"You know you wanna' dance and sing with me. Just let it happen." I continue to go at it a little harder and she starts cracking up even if her face is red. I pull up and the principal is smirking and I look around and flip him off and he starts to crack up.

"Shut your face, Emmett." I growl and he opens the door for his favorite student/pseudo-niece.

"You wound me, Bells. Your dancing skills leave something to be desired, pal." He mocks and I flip him off again. "Nice outfit, by the way." Rebel is almost puce by this point her face is so red and she doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Her pretty blonde hair is covering her face and she struggles to get her backpack out.

"Okay, your dad is getting you from school today. If he gives you any shit, you call me and I'm coming to kick his ass." I tell her, very seriously. She rolls her eyes. "I'm serious. If worse comes to worse, call Mamaw Angela or Papaw Ben. One of them will take you, I'm sure."

She leans over and hugs me. Sigh. That's the little girl I knew once and loved all the time. "Okay, mama. I love you. Even if you're insane."

I bust out laughing and wave both her and Emmett off as I pull away. My cell rings and I dig in my purse to find it, sighing when I see Alice's name light up on the display.

"What, Alice?"

"Don't 'what' me, bitch. Is that any way to answer your phone?" I laugh and she keeps going. "Anyway, I just wanted to call and let you know that we're going out for Jasper's birthday tonight at the bar. You're going. Don't give me excuses. Invite Jake if you want to. The more the merrier. It's free pool night."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Let him know I'm buying him the cheapest beer possible." She laughs and I smile. "Anyway, I'll talk to you later. I have to get home and get ready for work. Thank God I have the weekend off. I need a beer or twelve."

Walking into work, I sigh in disappointment. It's already busy and I just want a nap. Even if I do own the place, it still sucks to be an adult.

"Hey, Bella!" Charlotte chirps from the stacks of books she's putting on shelves. "We just got a new shipment in. Should be good for sales."

I walk over and take a look and nod. Some book about vampires and zombies. It ought to get some YA readers in here. I start some coffee and start making up the batter for the muffins when the door chimes and James walks in.

"Is Bella here?" He asks Charlotte, looking her up and down and she gives him the bitch brow and he backs up with his hands raised in surrender.

"She'll be up here in a few. How about you go over there, away from me, and have a seat. Keep your eyes off of my ass." I stifle a laugh and she keeps doing her job. Wanting to get whatever this is over with, I make my grand appearance.

"What do you want, you man whore?"

He smirks. "Good to see you too, Bella. Looking as bitchy as ever." I flip him off and he laughs. Even just a couple of years ago we wouldn't have been able to banter at all without me wanting to strangle him.

"Seriously, douche bag. What do you want? I've got shit to do."

"To the point, as always." I keep staring. "Anyway, is there any way you can get Rebel tonight?" Unfuckingbelievable. "What? What's that look for?"

"No fucking way, dude. You do this to me every weekend. You have some excuse not to get her on Friday nights and it's bullshit. Whatever old lady you wanna' bang, you can do that on your old time."

By the way, it turns out James has a thing for well off older women. Like, damn near old enough to be his mom. Who knew?

"Please! Bella, I met this chick at work and she wants to go out for some dinner and drinks and she's really nice and I mean, her face isn't that great, but I can get over that. Plus, she's got kids Rebel's age."

"Get bent, asshole. I have plans. Take her out Sunday. I'll even get the kid earlier, but it's not happening tonight. It's Jasper's birthday and we're all going out to celebrate. Spend some time with your kid, man. She freaking loves when you guys do stuff together. How about you put her first for a change?"

I was getting madder and madder the more he stood there.

His face was turning red, much like Rebel's had done earlier this morning and he rubbed his hands over his face.

"I swear to God. Fine. Thanks for nothing." He huffs and walks out the door.

I shake my head and Charlotte laughs. This isn't an unusual turn of events. Some things will never change and I just wish he would get his head out of his ass. At least this time he didn't ask when I was going to give him a son. Yeah, he does that. Apparently, "over my dead body" isn't an acceptable enough answer for him.

 _ **So, yeah. My daughter's dad had a really bad habit of blowing our kid off to spend time with old ladies. And yes, I have been known on occasion to embarrass my kid in this exact manner. She secretly loves it.**_


End file.
